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SUICIDE 



NOT EVIDENCE OF INSANITY. 



Suicide not Evidence of Insanity. 



a PAPER 



READ BEFORE THE 



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WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 6, 1878 



by y 

HON. 0. H, PALMER, 



OP NEW YORK. 



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PUBLISHED BY THE 

MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK. 

F. S. WINSTON, President. 






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Suicide not Evidence of Insanity. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Medico- 
Legal Society : 

I do not know how it may be among scientific and pro- 
fessional men, but I think I am justified in saying that in 
the average mind there is a strong conviction that suicide 
is invariably the result of an insane impulse — in other 
words, that the act itself is conclusive evidence of in- 
sanity. I venture to say that in half the cases, if you put 
the question to an unprofessional man and ask an 
opinion, this will be the reply. The common belief is, 
that no man will take his own life unless demented or in- 
sane. It is because we cannot readily comprehend that 
one in his right mind would throw away life, which we 
regard as a precious blessing, and take the chances of a 
future existence wherein, according to our Christian doc- 
trine, the very act of felo de se, by a responsible being, is 
accounted a heinous crime deserving ih finite punishment. 
The object of the present paper is to show the un- 
soundness of this too generally received opinion, and to 
prove, so far as I may be able, from facts and authority, 
that it is not well founded. You will not expect of me a 
scientific treatise on the subject of insanity, nor that I shall 
undertake to point out the shadowy line that divides the 
sane from the insane. I shall assume that there is a sane 
condition as well as an insane condition of the mind^JL, 
shall not take it for granted, as has been intimated by 
certain skeptics, that all mankind are lunatics. 



The manifestation of states of mind is not uniform, 
bnt it is as varied and dissimilar as the expression of the 
human face or conformation of the human brain. There 
is no mathematical standard for the mind to which we can 
apply the square and compass, and determine and meas- 
ure it. You who believe that the welfare and prosperity 
of the country depend upon the establishment of a sound 
financial system, and that the only true standard of 
value is the gold dollar, will hardly be justified in pro- 
nouncing insane those who insist upon the dollar of our 
fathers and the modern greenback as a cure for all 
our financial evils. From their standpoint, they would 
have the right to apply the epithet to you. They may 
seem insane to you, and, vice versa, you may seem 
insane to them. The man of defective vision, who insists 
that blue is black, may be just as sane as the man 
of perfect vision, who can give colors their true char- 
acter. The diversity of manifestation is immense, un- 
measurable, and unascertainable. But this does not 
prove insanity or derangement of the normal condition 
of the intellect. LSanity is the normal condition of the 
mind in all its diversities and variety of character^ This 
is law as well as logic. 

This principle is now too well established in this coun- 
try to be doubted or questioned, and yet outside of the 
literature of the courts it has but few believers. If any 
one doubts the fact, let him attend the impanelling of the 
next jury in a case where the question is to be tried, 
when it is important to exclude from the jury-box such 
jurors as believe that suicide is of itself evidence of in- 
sanity, and he will doubt no longer. It is well known 
that Life Insurance Companies decline to insure against 
suicide, and provide in their contract that if the insured 
feloniously destroy his own life they will not be liable. 
It is a risk they will not assume. The question is, 



therefore, frequently presented in the courts, and the 
provision is invariably sought to be avoided by alleg- 
ing insanity. Hence the great importance of a correct 
understanding of the question involved in this discussion. 
Unless the popular belief can be corrected, the protec- 
tion sought by the contract is of no avail, and the pro- 
vision might as well be abandoned. It is believed that 
the stability of any system of insurance depends upon 
the right of the underwriter to determine what risks he 
will insure against,, as well as upon an intelligent ad- 
ministration and application of the laws governing and 
protecting it. Disbelief in the doctrine that sanity is 
the normal condition of the mind, and belief in the doc- 
trine that self-destruction arises from insanity, are here- 
sies in the public mind which all reflecting men will 
say should be corrected. The true doctrine in respect to 
both of these heresies is abundantly established by the 
decisions of our highest courts, State and National. See 
Coffee vs. The Home Life Insurance Co., 35 N. Y. B,., 
314 ; Weed vs. The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co. ; 
Yan Zandt vs. The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co., 
55 N. Y. K., 169; McClure vs. The Mutual Life Insur- 
ance Co, 55 N. Y. R., 651 ; Terry vs. The Mutual Life In- 
surance Co., 15 Wallace, 580 ; Charter Oak Life Insur- 
ance Co. vs. Rodd, in the U. S. Supreme Court. 

These cases establish the doctrine that there is no pre- 
sumption of law, prima facie or otherwise, that self- 
destruction arises from insanity. 

If all mankind had implicit confidence in the deci- 
sions of our courts, I might safely rest the case upon 
these decisions ; but unfortunately this is not so, and I 
deem it justifiable, therefore, to fortify my position by 
proving the soundness of the rule independent of judi- 
cial authority. 

The law also regards suicide, felo de se, as a crime, put- 



ting it in the same category with murder. I It has been so 
held for many centuries, not only by the State, but by the 
Church. In the Greek Church, and in the Roman Church, 
as well as in the Protestant Episcopal Church, it is severely 
condemned, and the burial service provides that the pre- 
scribed office for the burial of the dead is not to be used 
for any who have laid violent hands upon themselves, 
vdn England this crime was punished not only with for- 
n sleiture of estate, but the body of the felo de se, or self- 
murderer, was required to be buried in the open highway 
or cross roads, and a stake thrust through it to mark the 
public detestation. This law, I am happy to say, is not 
now in force, having been repealed during the reign of 
George the Fourth ; but even now I believe the body of 
the suicide is required to be buried at night without the 
performance of religious rites. 

By the common law, also, if any one encourage or as- 
sist another in the commission of suicide, he is guilty of 
murder as a principal, and, by the ancient common law, 
a will of personal property was made void by the testa- 
tor' s subsequent act of self-destruction. Now these laws 
of the State and of the Church must be founded upon the 
idea of suicide without insanity ; otherwise, they would 
be monstrous. 

If suicide were invariably the result of insanity, accord- 
ing to what may be termed the present popular belief, 
the law-makers and religious teachers for many centu- 
ries have been guilty of the most enormous crimes. 

By reference to the text-books upon this question, we 
find abundant authority to sustain our position. 
Aj& Wharton and Stille' s Medical Jurisprudence it is 
held that the propensity to self-destruction may co-exist 
with sanity ; that, whatever certain scientific authorities 
may assert, we are not warranted in coming to the con- 
clusion that suicide is always the symptom or result of 



insanity ; that there is no insanity present where the 
feeling of disgust with life is in exact relation with the 
circumstances ; when evident moral causes exist which 
sufficiently account for the act ; that when a man of 
delicate feeling puts an end to his existence, that he may 
not survive the loss of his honor or of some highly 
valued possession which forms an intimate part of his 
intellectual being, and when a man prefers death to a 
miserable, contemptible life full of mental and physical 
ills, although morality may indeed call him to ac- 
count for the deed, yet there exists no ground for 
us to consider him insane ; that the abhorrence of life 
and the idea of self-annihilation correspond to the in- 
tensity of the painful impressions which bear upon the 
individual, and it is after deliberate reflection that the 
act is resolved upon and perpetrated. 

The court say in the case of Brooks vs. Barrett, 7 
Pickering, decided in 1828, that the law does not consider 
the act of suicide as conclusive evidence of insanity ; on 
the contrary, it is held as a crime, unless insanity be 
proven ; that the presumption of law is, that all men are 
of sane mind, and those who would defeat this pre- 
sumption by a suggestion of insanity must prove the 
exception to the general rule. 

This doctrine has been handed down through the 
courts for many generations, and one would suppose it 
was now too well established to be questioned ; but 
strange as it may appear, not long since a judge 
of one of our New York courts deliberately held, in 
an action upon a life insurance policy, that suicide per 
se was evidence of insanity, and so ruled in the case 
before him, and that the burden of proof that the felo 
de se was not insane was upon the defendant. That 
judge would, of course, have ruled, if the question had 
arisen in respect to the ancient Stoic or Epicurean philo- 



8 

sophers who destroyed themselves, claiming the act to be 
one of heroism, that they were all insane. Among the 
ancients suicide was neither considered criminal nor dis- 
honorable. Demosthenes, Thucydides, Mark Antony, and 
Cleopatra believed in it. Cato, rather than live under the 
despotism of Csesar, stabbed himself, and when the wound 
had been stanched tore off the bandages and accomplished 
his purpose. Even the Scriptures and the Apocrypha 
furnish notable examples, as Eleazar, who, thinking he 
might deliver his people and secure glory and a perpetual 
name by killing King Antiochus, permitted himself to be 
crushed by the elephant that wore the royal harness. 

Saul, because hard pressed in battle, rather than fall 
into the hands of the Philistines, took his sword and fell 
upon it, and so died. 

Samson was betrayed into the hands of the Philistines 
by the woman in the valley of Sorek — as many others 
have been through the pursuit of illicit pleasure. The 
love of silver made her treacherous and dishonest ; not 
that she sought to cheat her creditors by clipping the 
dollar, but was content to secure the treasure by clipping 
the locks of her deluded lover. As the green withs and 
new ropes failed to subject him to her power, so that she 
could deliver him to his enemies, she induced him to sleep 
upon her knees, and her victory was complete. Poor 
fellow, fool as he was, henceforth his life became a sore 
burden and made him the lit subject for suicide. His 
eyes were put out ; he was bound in fetters of brass, cast 
into prison, and forced to work upon the treadmill. To 
add to his humiliation and sorrow, his enemies — forget- 
ting that his hair had begun to grow — unbound him, that 
he might make sport for them while they were revelling 
over his degradation. In his agony of revenge, he prayed 
to God for a momentary return of his strength, and then, 
saying, " Let me die with the Philistines," seized the main 



9 

pillars of the house, one with the right hand and one with 
the left, and bowed himself in his might, and the iiouse 
fell upon him and his enemies, and he died with them. 

Ahithophel, when his counsel was disregarded "by 
his king and that of a rival adopted, arose and saddled 
his ass and got him home to his house and to his city, 
and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and 
died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers. 

Judas Iscariot, another devotee at the silver shrine, 
and whose name, I presume, is familiar to most of you, 
through remorse — not insanity — went and hanged him- 
self. No investigation in this case — not even a coroner' s 
verdict of temporary aberration of mind ! 

In speaking of the ancients, I ought perhaps to make 
some exceptions. Pythagoras, for instance, was evidently 
an exception to his time ; for he not only opposed suicide 
strongly in theory, but called the act base and cowardly. 
Zeno and Epicurus, however, more fairly represented the 
condition of the heathen world. They were the founders 
respectively of the Stoic and Epicurean schools. They 
arrived at about the same results in their systems of phi- 
losophy, though they proposed to reach their objects by 
different roads. 

Epicurus maintained that peace of mind was the 
" summam bonum" and that this was to be secured by 
cultivating and gratifying the mind's highest develop- 
ment. Zeno strove for what he called "unanimity of 
life," meaning by that a life inwardly harmonious and 
undisturbed, to be gained by crushing out the feelings and 
passions. In t^Q opinion of both of these eminent men 
suicide was preferable to great pain or disgrace. This view 
accorded well with their theories, but it may be doubted 
whether they did not rather embody in them the prin- 
ciples professed by almost all the cultivated men of the 
age than deduce these results logically from the premises 



10 

given. At all events, it is certain that men eminent in 
every calling, whether philosophers or not, killed them- 
selves rather than be dishonored. 

The generals Hannibal and Mithridates poisoned 
themselves rather than be taken prisoners. Even Cicero, 
coward though he was, doubted whether suicide would 
not be better than exile, and the touching story of 
Lucretia is never forgotten. 

It must, however, be acknowledged that the professed 
philosophers were consistent in their practice. 

Zeno, while going to lecture, fell down and put his 
finger out of joint. He returned home forthwith and 
hung himself. His successor as head of the school was 
Cleanthes. Cleanthes fell sick, and was advised by his 
physician to abstain from food. He did so, and his re- 
covery was complete ; but he thought that he had already 
gone so far on the road to starvation that it was not worth 
while to turn back and begin eating again, and so he 
died. 

Perhaps the most striking case of determination 
among the philosophers who killed themselves was that 
of Seneca, himself a eulogist of suicide. 

The old man, evidently trying feebly to imitate Socra- 
tes, called his friends around him and had his veins 
opened. His blood, however, was scanty in quantity 
and slow of motion, and in order to hasten his death he 
was put into a warm bath. Still the slowness of his cir- 
culation resisted this stimulant, and he called for a cup 
of poison and drank it. But the spark of life seemed to 
be as tenacious as it was feeble, and he was only killed 
at last by being suffocated in a stove. 

Pliny, reaffirming the doctrine of Xenophon, says in 
his work on natural history: " Deus non sibi potest 
mortem consciscere si velit, quod homini dedit optimum 
in tantis vitse pcenis." "God cannot end his own life 



11 

though he wish, but has given to mortals this best of 
boons amid the burdens and trials of life." 

Valerius Maximus, who wrote in the first century, 
states that a poisonous liquor was kept . publicly at 
Marseilles, and that it was given to such as exhibited 
themselves to the Senate, and procured its approval of 
the reasons which prompted them to get rid of life ; 
that the Senate examined their reasons with care, and 
after deliberating whether the applicants were justified 
in wishing to leave the world, gave or refused its sanc- 
tion according] y. If other poisonous liquors, the use of 
which probably more than any other single cause leads 
to suicide, could be prescribed only under similar sanc- 
tions, we should have the best excise law the world has 
ever seen. 

iElian, writing in the third century, affirms that the 
inhabitants of the island of Ceos, in Greece, when they 
found themselves incapable, by reason of decrepit age, 
to serve the public, were accustomed to meet at an 
entertainment and drink hemlock juice, the State per- 
mitting those who were weary of life to thus poison 
themselves. 

The ancients, at all events, did not agree with the 
New York judge in considering the suicide necessarily 
insane. 

It is true the subject of suicide has as yet but a 
scanty literature, especially in this country, and the 
little that does exist is not very satisfactory. One rea- 
son for this is that any complete study of the subject 
ought to be based upon a wide induction, and this can 
only be reached by careful statistics, almost wholly un- 
attainable anywhere until within a few years. Many 
physicians have touched upon the subject, as for instance, 
Dr. Maudsley in his " Eesponsibility in Mental Dis- 
ease ;" but physicians generally begin to consider the 



12 

subject on its diseased side, and are apt to incline to 
the belief (which I hope to convince you is wrong) that 
suicide is positive proof of insanity. 

Of the English works on suicide by writers not med- 
ical, the most ambitious is the "Anatomy of Suicide," by 
Forbes Winslow, published in 1840 ; then going back we 
find a worthless book by Solomon Pigott, 1824, written 
from the Sunday-school point of view ; and last, and 
most worthy of notice, a two-volume octavo work by 
Charles Moore, printed in 1790. Moore, though he was 
a vicar at Oxford and dedicated his book to the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, had a mind impartial as well as 
highly cultivated, and had evidently studied his subject 
deeply. 

I quote a few words from his book, which show that 
the insanity theory of suicide is not the pure growth 
of modern science, but was held by some people as far 
back as 1790. " But some," says Moore, " who are ever 
desirous of leaning toward the side of humanity, are in- 
clined to judge that the very act of suicide, being so hor- 
rid and unnatural, implies a subversion of the brain or a 
species of madness. This, however, is deciding too favor- 
ably of the matter." 

The severity of the penalties inflicted upon the bodies, 
estates, and descendants of the felo de se, to which I have 
adverted, has undoubtedly had a powerful influence in 
propagating the belief that suicide was the result of in- 
sanity. It was to avoid those horrid penalties, that coro- 
ners' juries were originally accustomed to bring in ver- 
dicts that the suicide was insane. Bentham says, " Eng- 
lish juries did not hesitate to violate their oaths by 
declaring the suicide non compos." At the time, mercy 
seemed to make this finding a necessity. It was the out- 
come of humanity in defiance of a barbarous and revolt- 
ing law. Although the necessity has passed away, the 
result of this forced education is yet manifest, and the 



13 

coroner's jury of to-day, especially if it can be impressed 
with the idea that benefit is to accrue to the surviving 
friends, is almost invariably inclined to return the verdict 
stereotyped three hundred years ago, "Suicide while 
laboring under temporary aberration of mind. ' ' 

Lecky, in his "History of European Morals," says: 
' ' The effect of the pagan examples may frequently be 
detected in the last words or writings of the suicides. 
Philip Strozzi, when accused of the assassination of 
Alexander I., of Tuscany, killed himself through fear 
that torture might extort from him revelations injurious 
to his friends, and he left behind him a paper, in which, 
among other things, he commended his soul to God, with 
the prayer that, if no higher boon could be granted, he 
might at least be permitted to have his place with Cato 
of Utica and the other great suicides of antiquity. " 

The ancient heathen philosophers to whom I have re- 
ferred are not the only advocates of the crime of suicide. 
It has had its defenders, and powerful ones too, in more 
modern times — Rousseau, Madame de Stael, Gibbon, 
Hume, Dr. Donne, Montaigne, Montesquieu, and others. 
We do not know nor can we tell the extent of the influ- 
ence of the teaching of these apologists of suicide upon 
the thousands that annually seek, as matter of choice, 
this relief from the ills of life while in the full possession 
of all their mental powers. It would be a happy relief, 
were it true, to think that none but the insane shuffled 
off the mortal coil in that way. 

Even under British rule in India to-day, suicide is very 
common, and more or less tolerated of necessity by the 
authorities. Among the many castes in that country is 
one held in high esteem by reason of the great import- 
ance of the service its members perform as carrier-mes- 
sengers and mail- carriers. Strange as it may seem, sui- 
cide has been the protection of this caste against brigands 
and highwaymen from time immemorial. A peculiar and 



L- 



14 

terrific custom of this caste is maintained as a necessary 
safeguard to its calling. A carrier who has been robbed 
is deemed to have been despoiled of what is a thousand 
times dearer to him than life, his honor ; and in the presence 
of the robber, after vainly giving him full warning and an 
opportunity to restore the property stolen from him, he 
kills himself ; thereupon the whole caste of the car- 
rier rises as one man and swears a remorseless vendetta 
against the thief, his family, kinsmen, friends, and vil- 
lage, until the last soul of them is exterminated. There 
is no other atonement. The carrier entering the service 
of the public bound himself, by the most solemn and 
fearful oaths, under the sanction of his religion, to protect 
his caste and to punish any attempt to dishonor one of its 
members ; the Brahmins consecrated this service by pro- 
nouncing the most appalling anathemas against the trans- 
gressor, and so the custody and transportation of prop- 
erty by one of their caste passed into a law. At this day, a 
package, however valuable, in the hands of one of these 
men is safer than though guarded by an army ; much 
safer than public moneys under the control of politi- 
cians or trust funds in the care of some savings banks. 
It might be a blessing if we had a similar caste in this 
country to declare a relentless vendetta against thieves 
and robbers. 

There is another Brahmin custom executed by this 
carrier caste, which may be termed a short and effectual 
way for the collection of debts. In many of the provinces 
of Malabar, the carrier will become security for the 
payment of debts by pledging his life to the credi- 
tor, for proper consideration, that the debtor shall ful- 
fil his obligations. If, on the day of payment, the 
creditor is not satisfied, the carrier goes and sits quietly 
on the debtor's veranda, and calls upon him to pay 
on the spot. If he refuse, the carrier makes a few 
incisions in his breast with his dagger, and in a loud 






15 

voice gives notice that if, by sundown, the debt is not 
paid, he will plnnge the dagger into his own heart, leav- 
ing vengeance to his caste. This process never fails ; the 
debtor cannot escape. Neither the ingenuity of lawyers, 
nor the weakness of judges, nor the stupidity of jurors 
can save him. No bills of exceptions or dilatory mo- 
tions can postpone the day of payment. 

The hari-kari custom of the Japanese is familiar to 
all, but there is another custom peculiar to them which 
perhaps is not so generally known. The man who re- 
sents an insult by disembowelling himself, goes out of the 
world in the happy belief that he can at once come back 
as an avenging spirit and work his enemy ten-fold more 
harm in that way ; that he can hover about his path, 
make his plans miscarry, bring sickness and all sorts of 
evil upon him, and control his destiny to an evil end. 

It was my purpose in the outset to present the statis- 
tics of this increasing and appalling crime in our own 
country ; but to my great disappointment and amaze- 
ment, I find it impossible. I have looked into the United 
States Census Reports. I could give you, from them, the 
number of the insane and the idiotic ; the number of 
deaths by consumption and many other diseases ; but 
not a word as to deaths by suicide. This subject, which 
I think is one of the greatest importance in vital statistics, 
seems to have been wholly ignored. There are no relia- 
ble data in this country that I can find to enable me to 
lay before you the facts which, if available in detail, 
would fully verify the position I have assumed.* 

In many of the European countries, there is less em- 
barrassment. In Germany and France, especially, great 

* In some of the principal cities creditable efforts have been made to pre- 
serve the statistics, and the census of the State of New York for the year 
1875, I am happy to say, has carefully tabulated the number of deaths by 
suicide in the respective counties of the State ; but the basis is not yet broad 
enough to justify any general indication for the whole country. 



16 

care is taken to ascertain and preserve the facts bearing 
upon the question. It is a shame that it has hitherto been 
so much neglected here. One of the most celebrated Ger- 
man writers on vital statistics, and who is of the highest 
authority on that subject the world over, Alexander 
Von Oettengen, has collected and collated the statistics 
of suicide in Germany and many other European coun- 
tries, and has deduced therefrom some interesting gen- 
eral laws. He maintains that suicide is one of the 
strongest proofs of freedom of the individual will ; that 
the possibility of taking one' s own life, either from dis- 
gust or from higher motives, as in the manner of the 
Buddhists or Stoics, is evidence that a man is his own 
master ; that the commission of crime, as well as suicide, 
in many cases shows strength of will ; that, notwithstand- 
ing the love of life, the tendency to suicide remains, 
and the number of suicides increases ; that the increase 
in European countries is from 3 to 5 per cent, while the 
increase of population is less than 2 per cent ; that this 
tendency varies according to the season of the year ; 
that it is more frequent in the hot summer months 
than in winter ; that the heat seems to increase the ten- 
dency and debilitate the physical system or power of 
resistance ; that every sinner carries the germ of suicide 
in him ; that the bad deed itself is to be regarded as the 
ripe fruit which is shaken from the tree by the storms of 
social life ; that while myriads have the germ or tendency 
to suicide in their hearts, it is only developed by circum- 
stances ; that society, generally, is involved in the respon- 
sibility of the increase of this tendency ; that the rich, 
by helping the poor, succoring the distressed, inculcating 
sobriety and religion, might materially mitigate the grow- 
ing evil ; and that as each age lias its tendency to crime, 
so also it has its tendency to suicide. 

Buckle, in his lt History of Civilization, ' 1 says, it is 
l an astonishing fact that all the evidence we possess 



17 

respecting it points to one great conclnsion, and can leave 
no doubt on our minds that suicide is merely the product 
of the general condition of society, and that the individual 
felon only carries into effect what is a necessary consel 
quence of preceding circumstances." He maintains 
that there exists a regularity in the entire moral conduct 
of a given society — that the crimes of murder and suicide, 
which might well be supposed the most arbitrary and 
irregular of all the offences, are " committed with as much 
regularity and bear as uniform a relation to certain known 
circumstances as do the movement of the tides and the 
rotation of the seasons." 

He illustrates this by contrasting the circumstances 
which surround the respective criminals. 

Of the crime of murder : "When we consider that this, 
though generally the crowning act of a long career of vice, 
is often the immediate result of what seems a sudden im- 
pulse ; and when premeditated, its committal, even with 
the least chance of impunity, requires a rare combination 
of favorable circumstances, for which the criminal will 
frequently wait ; that he has thus to bide his time, and 
look for opportunities he cannot control ; that when the 
time has come, his heart may fail him ; that the question 
whether or not he shall commit the crime may depend on 
a balance of conflicting motives, such as fear of the law, 
a dread of the penalties held out by religion, the prick- 
ings of his own conscience, the apprehension of future 
remorse, the love of gain, jealousy, revenge, desperation 
— when we put all these things together, there arises such 
a complication of causes that we might reasonably de- 
spair of detecting any order or method in the result of 
those subtle and shifting agencies by which murder is 
either caused or prevented." 

Of the crime of suicide : ' ' Among public and registered 
crimes there is none which seems so completely depend- 



18 

ent on the individual as suicide. Attempts to murder or 
to rob may be, and constantly are, successfully resisted ; 
baffled sometimes by the party attacked, sometimes by 
the officers of justice. But an attempt to commit suicide 
is much less liable to interruption. The man who is de- 
termined to kill himself is not prevented at the last mo- 
ment by the struggles of an enemy ; and as he can easily 
guard against the interference of the civil power, his act 
becomes, as it were, isolated ; it is cut off from foreign 
disturbances, and seems more clearly the product of his 
own volition than any other offence could possibly be. 
We may also add that, unlike crimes in general, it is 
rarely caused by the instigation of confederates ; so that 
men, not being goaded into it by their companions, are 
uninfluenced by one great class of external associa- 
tions, which might hamper what is termed freedom of 
will. It may, therefore, very naturally be thought im- 
practicable to refer suicide to general principles, or to 
detect any thing like regularity in an offence which is so 
eccentric, so solitary, so impossible to control by legisla- 
tion, and which the most vigilant police can do nothing 
to eliminate." Yet he finds the same general law that in 
a given state of society a certain number of persons will 
commit murder, and a certain number put an end to 
their own lives by suicide. 

I have seen a statement which strikingly illustrates 
this fact, namely, that in the year 1793 suicide became 
an epidemic in the city of Versailles, in France, and 
raged to such an extent that in that single city there 
were 1300 cases during that year. Also, that at one 
time it broke out in the army of the first Napoleon, 
and threatened to decimate his forces, and was only 
checked by the emperor' s strong personal appeal to the 
patriotism, pride, and courage of his soldiers. Yon 
Oettengen shows also that the suicidal tendency varies 



19 

with the days of the week and hours of the day ; that on 
Saturday fewer men take their lives, that being the day 
when wages are paid and Sunday is before them ; that 
on Monday and Tuesday, the per cent is much greater ; 
that the difference between men and women in this re- 
spect is very characteristic ; that the woman oftener com- 
mits suicide on Sunday, when the vagabond man leaves 
her to her care and sorrow — very seldom on Saturday, 
cleaning day, or on Monday, when her week's work 
begins ; that, on the contrary, when the man' s work 
begins, the percentage among men increases ; that race 
and social circumstances have an important bearing upon 
the question : while in one of the provinces of France the 
deaths by suicide are 298 in a million of inhabitants, in 
Corsica, where murder is the common pastime, they are 
but 13^- ; in Scandinavia, 126 ; among the Germans, 
112 ; among the Roman races, 80 ; among the Sclaves, 47 ; 
and in Prussia, 215. 

Suicide occurs more frequently among prisoners and 
persons who lead bad lives ; next among servants and 
soldiers ; next among those who come in contact with 
the varnish and luxury of civilization, without being in- 
wardly elevated or having developed self-reliance, for 
the reason that superficial culture leaves them less able 
to resist overwhelming calamities. 

In respect to suicide, the ratio of women to men is 
as one to three ; that in respect to crime as one to five ; 
the tendency to suicide increases with age, the number be- 
ing far less between 16 and 40 than between 50 and 70. 

It is stated on the authority of Dr. De Boismont 
that since the beginning of the present century not 
less than 100,000 Frenchmen have committed suicide. I 
am inclined to think that large as the number is, it is 
understated. The statistics for the single year 1876 show 
the number for that year alone was 5567, of whom 4435 



20 

were men and 1132 women ; 29 were men under the age of 
16, and 98 over 80 ; 1828 were peasants, 1038 of the work 
ing classes, 228 domestics, 987 of the liberal profes- 
sions. 

Among the causes assigned are the following : Drunk- 
enness, 1443 ; afflicted with incurable diseases, 798 ; do- 
mestic broils, 633 ; dread of poverty, 320. Less than one 
third of the whole number in the sad list is charged to 
insanity. 

It will be seen that all these facts when analyzed — and 
I might add many more — prove inevitably the fallacy of 
the theory that suicide is the result of insanity. There 
has been a custom among the Japanese which the most 
inveterate believer in the doctrine that suicide is per se 
evidence of insanity, would find it difficult to reconcile 
with his theory. If the Oriental desired to inflict sure 
and summary punishment upon his enemy, he would 
kill himself upon his enemy's front door-step, and such 
enemy was thereupon in duty bound to take his own 
life. 

While the Jews and Persians share in our horror of 
suicide,— for they set the highest value upon the earthly 
existence, — a totally different feeling obtains among the 
Chinese, Japanese, Hindoos, ' Fijians, American Indians, 
Malayans, and other nations. With these, the superior 
blessings of the future life over those of this form a part of 
the popular religious belief! The taking-off of one' s self, 
under certain circumstances, is viewed as an act not 
merely pardonable but heroic. To pretend that he who 
commits it under such predispositions and surroundings 
is non compos mentis, is clearly absurd. Says Elam, 
in his work entitled "A Physician's Problems:" "In 
our former investigations, also, we judged of the degenera- 
tion of the people in part by the excess of crime and the 
great frequency of suicide, but we cannot with propriety 



21 

apply that test to the oriental people ; we cannot con- 
sider their statistics as equally significant with the records 
of crime in western nations, seeing that many of those acts 
which with us are referable to crime or mental alienation 
are, amongst the orientals, to be considered as attached 
to mistaken notions of morals and religion, or as origi- 
nating in peculiar legislative enactments." 

Says the Abbe Hue, in his ' ' Chinese Empire :' ' 
"It is almost impossible to imagine the readiness 
with which the Chinese commit suicide. It requires 
only the merest trifle or a word to induce him to 
hang or drown himself, these being the two kinds of 
suicide most in favor. In other countries, when a 
man wishes to avenge himself on his enemy, he tries 
to kill him ; in China he kills himself. There are 
various reasons for this. In the first place, the Chinese 
government holds the person responsible for the crime of 
suicide who gave the offence which caused it. It follows 
from this, that if any one wishes to avenge himself on 
his enemy, he has but to kill himself to work him the 
direst woe. He falls into the hands of the executive, 
who at least torture and ruin him, if not take his life. 
The family of the suicide, likewise, generally obtains 
large pecuniary compensation ; and it is not rare to see 
wretched beings, who are devoted to their families, go 
and deliberately commit suicide at the house of some 
rich person." 

This pagan custom of self-immolation, through family 
devotion, has its counterpart and following even in civil- 
ized and Christianized nations. What life-insurance man 
does not know that many insured persons have unquestion- 
ably done the same thing, relying on rich insurance com- 
panies to provide for their families? This was not 
exactly the feeling of the Western gambler who, not- 
withstanding his clear apprehension of the question, 



22 

declined to play at a game where he had to die to beat 
the bank. 

The spirit of self-sacrifice for the benefit of those we 
love is as old as history and as fresh as to-day. Cnrtins 
plunged into the yawning gulf to save his country. The 
pelican, which picks its own bleeding breast to nourish its 
savage young, has been adopted as the symbol and the 
title of one of the largest life offices of Great Britain ; 
and who shall speak other than reverently of that played- 
out rake who took his own life, after liberally insuring 
it, in order, as he said, to enable his widow to start again 
with a younger and more vigorous man ? 

Hecker records, in his "Epidemics," that in the four- 
teenth century, during an epidemic of persecution of 
the Jews on the false and preposterous charge that 
they had poisoned the air and all the springs and 
wells, the poor Israelites deliberately immolated them- 
selves by thousands. In some places, they fired their own 
quarter of the town, and so perished. At Strassburg, 
two thousand were burnt alive in their own burial-ground. 
" At Esslingen,the whole Jewish community burned them- 
selves in their synagogue ; and mothers were seen throw- 
ing their own children on the pile, to prevent their being 
baptized, and then precipitating themselves into the 
flames. 1 ' If ever there were the marks of deliberation 
and sanity attendant upon suicide, these cases present 
them. 

Hegesias, a Stoic philosopher of the time of the Ptole- 
mies, gained the title of "The Orator of Death,' 1 from 
the eloquence with which he preached contempt of life 
and the blessings of death. "So intense, 1 ' says Lecky, 
"was the fascination he cast around the tomb, that his 
disciples embraced with rapture the consequences of his 
doctrine ; multitudes freed themselves by suicide from 
the troubles of the world. 11 The fashion at last attained 



23 

so perilous an extension that Ptolemy had to banish the 
philosopher from Alexandria. 

Among the examples given by Dr. Winslow, in his 
" Anatomy of Suicide," and Esquirol, in his essay on 
suicide in the " Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales," are 
some which most conclusively show that while an indi- 
vidual may be prompted by a mesmeric sensitiveness, or 
other cause, to fall in with an epidemic of suicide, yet the 
act is wholly controllable. For instance, ' ' The ladies of 
Miletus committed suicide in great numbers, because 
their husbands and lovers were detained by the wars. 
At one time there was an epidemic of drowning among 
the women of Lyons. They could assign no cause for this 
singular tendency ; it was checked by the order that all 
who drowned themselves should be publicly exposed in 
the market-place. That at Miletus was stopped by a 
similar device. The ladies generally hung* themselves, 
and the magistrates ordered that in every future case the 
body should be dragged naked through the town by the 
ropes employed for the purpose. There were no more 
suicides ; the apprehensions of an outraged modesty were 
quite sufficient to check the suicidal epidemic, thus prov- 
ing that it had been a mere stupid fashion, all the time 
controllable. 

In the Yedas, the scriptures of the Brahminic religion, 
the act is not mentioned, but for ages it has received a 
distinct ecclesiastical indorsement in the approval of 
suttee, or widow-burning, and the blessings bestowed by 
the Brahmins upon those who have taken their own lives 
in what they regard as a good cause. 

"If we wish to understand the religions of the an- 
cient nations of the world," says Prof. Max Miiller, "we 
must take into account their national character. Nations 
who value life so little as the Hindoos and some of the 
American and Malay nations, could not feel the same 



24 

horror of human sacrifices, for instance, which would be 
felt by a Jew ; and the voluntary death of the widow 
would inspire her nearest relations with no other feeling 
than that of compassion and regret at seeing a young 
bride follow her husband into a distant land. She her- 
self would feel that, in following her husband into death, 
she was on]y doing what every other widow would do ; 
she was only doing her duty. 

" In India, where men in the prime of life throw them- 
selves under the car of Juggernaut to be crushed to death 
by the idol they believe in ; where the plaintiff who can- 
not get redress starves himself to death at the door of 
his judge ; where the philosopher who thinks he has 
learned all which this world can teach him, and who 
longs for absorption into the Deity, quietly steps 
into the Granges ; in such a country, however much 
we may condemn these practices, we must be on our 
guard, and not judge the strange religions of such 
strange creatures according to our own more sober code 
of morality. 

' ' Let a man once be impressed with a belief that this 
life is but a prison, and that he has but to break through 
its walls in order to breathe the fresh and pure air of a 
higher life ; let him once consider it cowardice to shrink 
from this act, and a proof of courage and of a firm faith 
in God to rush back to that eternal source whence 
he came ; and let those views be countenanced by a 
whole nation, sanctioned by priests and hallowed by 
poets, and however we may blame and loathe the custom 
of . . . religious suicides, we shall be bound to confess 
that to such a man, and to whole nations of such men, the 
most cruel rites will have a very different meaning from 
what they would have to us. . . . They contain a re- 
ligious element, and presuppose a belief in immortality, 
and an indifference with regard to worldly pleasures, 



25 

which, if directed in a different channel, might prodnce 
martyrs and heroes." 

Thus, this master scholar shows ns that not merely is 
suicide among the orientals no evidence of insanity, but 
it is not even a crime. 

Goethe, in his autobiography, says : ' ' Suicide is an 
event in nature which, however much it may have been 
spoken and treated of, must still excite the interest of 
mankind and be re-discussed by every generation. Mon- 
tesquieu assigns his heroes and great men the right to 
give themselves up to death whenever it may please 
them ; for he says they certainly must have the right to 
close the fifth act of their tragedies at what point they 
please. However, the question is not now of such as 
have led an important life, have given up their days to 
serve an empire or the pursuit of freedom, and whom 
surely we cannot blame if, when the idea that animates 
them disappears from the earth, follow it into the here- 
after, hoping to pursue it there. We have to do with 
such as, from dearth of action in the most peaceful con- 
dition in the world, through immoderate demands upon 
themselves become offended with life. As this was my 
own condition, and I well know the pain I suffered, what 
effort it cost me to escape it, I will not hide my reflections 
on the various methods of self-destruction that one could 
choose from. 

"It is something so unnatural that man should tear 
himself from himself— not only injure, but annihilate 
himself — that he resorts usually to mechanical means 
wherewith to execute his design. When Ajax falls upon 
his sword, it is the weight of his body that renders him 
this last service. When the warrior binds his shield- 
bearer not to allow him to fall into the hands of the 
enemy, it is also an outward power of which he assures 
himself, only moral instead of physical." 



26 

Voltaire relates the following incident : ' ' Some years 
ago, an Englishman named Bacon Morris, a half -pay officer 
and a man of much intellect, came to see me in Paris. He 
was afflicted with a cruel malady, the cure of which he 
could scarcely hope for. After a certain number of 
visits, he one day came to me with a purse and a couple 
of papers in his hand. ' One of these papers,' says he to 
me, ' contains my will, the other my epitaph ; and this 
bag of money is intended to defray the expenses of my 
funeral. I am resolved to try for fifteen days what can 
be effected by the regimen and the remedies prescribed 
in order to render life less insupportable, and if I succeed 
not, I am determined to kill myself. You will bury me 
in what manner you please ; my epitaph is short.' He 
made me read it, and it consisted only of the following 
two words from Petronius: Valete curce, Farewell, care." 

To gather a few illustrations from the domain of 
romance, it may be remarked that the "melancholy 
Dane,' 1 although of doubtful sanity on other points, 
discussed the question "To be or not to be' 1 with mental 
soundness and a clear apprehension of the subject ; Romeo 
and Juliet deliberately and intelligently preferred death 
to earthly separation ; and the historic ballad of " Villi- 
kens and his Dinah," which narrates how by "pizon" 
they died, makes no attempt to cast the charitable 
mantle of impaired intellect over the extremely logical 
young lady who chose death rather than a distasteful 
husband, or of her Villikens who "laid down by her 
side," who "drank that cold pizon and immejitly died." 

My experience for the past five years in the investi- 
gation of cases of suicide has forced upon my mind the 
conclusion that but a comparatively small number of 
suicides even in this country, is attributable to insanity. 

While it may not be proper to say that suicide, like 
the small-pox or yellow-fever, is a disease, nor that it 



27 

is contagious, yet there are times and states, so to 
speak, of the social atmosphere when the propensity 
seems to prevail to a most alarming extent — when man's 
attachment to life ceases, when shadows seem to pass 
over the bright side of his existence, when hopes of hap- 
piness or fortune are blighted, when misfortunes seem to 
multiply and become insurmountable, when life seems to 
have proved a total failure, when pride and ambition 
have been blasted, it is then the wicked thought enters 
the mind that death is preferable to such a life, and the 
sad result, deliberately, intelligently and ingeniously 
planned, follows. It is not insanity, but a deliberate pur- 
pose to escape ills which to the suicide seem overwhelm 
ing, and which he has not the fortitude to bear. 

I have in my mind several practical illustrations to sus- 
tain this theory coming under my personal observation. 

During the last year, a man of intelligence and culture, 
of mature years, with a wife and four children, to whom 
he was fondly attached, had the misfortune to get into 
financial difficulties, and saw bankruptcy and poverty 
staring him in the face, and the hand of want out- 
stretched and ready to grasp the delicate form of a be- 
loved companion and the tender pledges of their mutual 
love, and for them, and to drive the wolf from their door, 
he deliberately and intelligently laid his plans to pro- 
tect them by the sacrifice of his own life. As he did not 
succeed, however, in his felonious attempt, but "still 
lives," I will not mention his name or place of residence. 
His family being absent for a few days, leaving only a 
woman servant in the house, he seized upon that oc- 
casion for the enactment of the tragedy. He was found 
in the morning by the servant in a comatose and uncon- 
scious state, in bed, with the covering drawn over his 
head and a rubber bag containing a sponge saturated 
with chloroform near his nose and mouth. Medical aid 



28 

was immediately called, and, after several hours of active 
treatment, consciousness was restored. It was then given 
out, as indicated by him, that the house had been entered 
by burglars for the purpose of robbery, and the victim 
drugged by chloroform. The theory advanced at the 
time, and acted upon by the police for a while, was 

9 

that the robbers entered by a small closet window, 
which was found to be open, and made their exit by a 
door, the bolt of which was discovered to have been 
thrown back ; that they had been alarmed by the bril- 
liant light of a fire raging the night before not far dis- 
tant, and escaped with a portion of their booty, which 
consisted of a little silver-ware and an article or two 
of jewelry, which were subsequently found in a drawer 
hid in a bush near the house, directly in line with the 
fire referred to, and covered by a cloth. The drawer 
had been taken from the buffet which had contained 
the silver. It was found by a small child of the victim a 
few days after the supposed robbery. This was a very 
plausible theory, and ought to have satisfied a reason- 
able public and secured to the unfortunate victim the 
sympathy of his neighbors. But this is a very wicked 
world, and there is always a disposition when theories 
are put forth, however plausible on their face, to criticise, 
investigate, and test them. So in this case and in this 
neighborhood there were doubting Thomases, who would 
insist upon thrusting their probes into this theory. It 
was suggested : 

1st. If the thieves were frightened by the light, it 
would have been very stupid in them to have run di- 
rectly towards it to deposit their booty. 

2d. Whether a burglar was ever known, when stealing 
silver from a buffet, to take the drawer containing it and 
cover it with a cloth, instead of wrapping the silver in 
the cloth, so as to convey it without noise % 



29 

3d. Why they should take a single coat of the victim 
to cover the drawer, without disturbing any of his other 
garments ? 

4th. Why the pocket-book of the victim, which was 
upon the mantel in his room, was undisturbed ? 

5th. Why his wife's wardrobe, which consisted of 
costly silks and laces, in a closet in the same room 
remained untouched \ 

6th. Why the servant, who slept in a room on the op- 
posite side of the hall, was unmolested I 

7th. Worst of all, how it happened that the rubber 
bag, which was afterwards positively and emphatically 
identified, and found to have been purchased by the vic- 
tim himself shortly prior, could have been used for the 
nefarious purpose by the burglars \ 

8th. How it happened that the victim was found by 
the disagreeable doctors to be under the influence of 
morphine as well as chloroform % and 

9th, and last, whether a man retiring in conscious 
sanity can be chloroformed without being awakened in 
the process. 

I will not say how much force there is in this last sug- 
gestion. That is rather a conundrum of the doctors for 
the doctors. It is enough to say, the man is sound and 
sane ; the police were called off, and no trace of the bur- 
glars could be discovered ; but it was found that his life 
was insured to the amount of some $50,000, and that 
most of his policies were of recent date. 

With a little more morphine or a little more chloro- 
form, here would have been another case for a coroner' s 
verdict of suicide while laboring under ' ' temporary 
aberration of mind," and a chance for an intelligent jury, 
actuated perhaps by the purest sympathy, but under the 
erroneous belief that the man must have been insane or 
he would not have committed suicide, to have put their 



30 

hands on several bloated corporations, and to have vin- 
dicated the claims of the widow and orphans ; in other 
words, by sympathy and error to have robbed innocent 
policy-holders and rewarded rascality. 

A very striking case also occurred in Connecticut in 
the summer of 1872. It was pretty thoroughly discussed 
in the Connecticut papers at the time, and the facts dis- 
closed in its investigation were peculiarly interesting. I 
refer to the case of Captain George M. Colvocoresses. 
He was a Greek by birth. Having lost his parents in the 
Greek revolution, he was picked up as a waif by one of 
our naval officers, brought to this country and edu- 
cated in the naval service, remaining in that service for 
many years. At this time, however, he had been relieved 
for reasons which it is not necessary to explain, and was 
residing at Litchfield, in the State of Connecticut. 

In January, 1872, a life-insurance agent got informa- 
tion that Captain Colvocoresses was desirous of securing 
a large line of insurance on his life, and it was not long, 
therefore, before the agent put himself in communication 
with his customer. The reason given by the Captain to 
the agent for wishing to secure a large insurance, was 
that he had a suit against the Department at Washing- 
ton for a large amount of prize money, something over a 
hundred thousand dollars, and as he might lose the suit, 
he had made up his mind to place as much insurance 
upon his life as the amount involved in the suit. He did 
not care to have the policies issued before the middle of 
January, and in all cases wanted to have the premiums 
made payable semi-annually. Through this energetic 
agent, and by his own efforts and applications, he se- 
cured, in twenty different companies, an insurance upon 
his life amounting in the aggregate to $195,500. 
I This was the first act in the drama. The next was to 
die before a second premium became due. He had ex- 



31 

hausted his resources, and, of course, the speculation 
would fail unless the second act was performed in time. 
He occupied a high social position. His resources had 
mainly melted away in bad investments, and the ladder 
which had kept him and his family well up was in dan- 
ger of being swept away. There was no avoiding a sac- 
rifice, and the chivalry of race and profession secured the 
victim. On Wednesday, the 29th of May, 1872, he left 
his house in Litchfield, saying that he was going to New 
York, taking with him a russet leather valise, a small 
black satche], an umbrella, and a bamboo sword-cane. 
His scheme was to be apparently murdered, and this was 
his outfit. Instead of going to New York, he stopped at 
Bridgeport, where the denouement was to occur. For 
some weeks he had been on the go, like the Wandering 
Jew, up and down the earth to find the time, place, and 
occasion, hesitating, doubtless fearing ; but finally the 
act must be performed without farther delay, and Bridge- 
port was the chosen spot. 

His part had been thoroughly studied. He feared that 
suicide would avoid his policies, for his attention had 
been called to that subject by the trial of a case involving 
the question whether death was the result of suicide or 
murder, and which he had watched with an intense in- 
terest. He stayed some days in Bridgeport, and finally 
took passage on the boat for New York, engaged his 
state-room, and deposited in it the russet bag, and then 
left the boat with the sword-cane and black bag in his 
possession. He went to the hotel with these articles 
at about 9.30 in the evening. He remained about the 
hotel till just half -past ten o'clock. The boat was to sail 
at eleven o' clock. He started apparently for the boat, 
stopped at a drug-store and got a couple of sheets of 
paper, and inquired the best route to the boat. He was 
seen to turn into Clinton street, a narrow street, about 



32 

twenty-five minutes to eleven. At eleven a pistol-shot 
was heard in the street, where his body was immediately 
found. It appears that, after leaving the drug-store, he 
had taken the black bag to a spot near the dock, cut it 
open with his knife, which was afterwards discovered, 
taken out his pistol, which was an old heavy one, out of 
date and rusty, gone back to Clinton street, bent his 
sword-cane nearly double over a picket-fence, unbuttoned 
his coat and vest, placed the pistol against his breast 
with one hand, and fired while he held open his coat and 
vest with the other — the blaze setting fire to his shirt, by 
the light of which he was speedily discovered. There 
was no evidence of any struggle, and the report of the 
pistol instantly brought several persons to the windows 
overlooking the street, and no one but himself was in the 
street at the time. The noise made by bending the sword- 
cane was distinctly heard by a neighbor. I will not take 
your time by going more minutely into the many inter- 
esting details, but it is enough to say that the surround- 
ing facts and circumstances left no doubt upon the mind 
of any intelligent, disinterested man that the theory of 
murder was a humbug, nor that it was any thing but a 
case of deliberate suicide by a sane man ; yet such is 
the state of public feeling upon the question of suicide, 
that the insurance companies were afraid to trust it to 
the decision of a jury, and rather than run the risk of 
losing the whole amount of this fraudulent insurance, 
they compromised by the payment of about one half of 
the claim. 

With a healthy and intelligent public opinion no such 
fraud could be consummated, nor outrage perpetrated. 
You will excuse me for speaking strongly on this subject. 
In my judgment this demoralization of public sentiment 
is a disgrace to our civilization. While the sentiment 
which moves us to protect the weak against the strong is 



33 

worthy of tlie highest commendation, a feeling that enno- 
bles human nature when intelligently exercised, I have 
no sympathy with its abuse and perversion, nor should 
it be permitted, at this day and age, to encourage the 
perpetration of crimes or legalize frauds. 

Although I am drawing largely upon your patience, I 
will take the liberty of referring to one other case among 
very many at my command, which I think strikingly il- 
lustrates the question we are considering. 

Monroe Snyder, a Moravian, residing at Bethle- 
hem, Pa., was a man of the age of 54. He had been 
well off, was unfortunate in his slate mining operations, 
and became largely involved in debt. He was an unedu- 
cated man, but possessed of strong, vigorous common- 
sense, and was devotedly attached to his wife and an only 
son. He seemed to have a mortal dread of not being 
able to pay his debts, or that those who had trusted him 
should ever be in a position to say they had lost money 
by him. He clearly saw the approaching crisis in his af- 
fairs, growing out of his financial embarrassment, that 
dishonor would soon come upon his good name among 
his neighbors, and he could devise but one way of es- 
cape, and that was through life insurance. 

If you will bear with me, I will read from his letter of 
instruction to his son, which was written by him at three 
several sittings, but completed only a day or two before 
his death. This letter unfolds his plan completely, and 
will give you a better idea of it than I can convey by 
stating it in other language. 

TO MY DEAR AND MUCH BELOVED SON LEWIS. 

Lewis, somtimes I feel, and it appears to me that I want to 
be here, with you and Mother, on this world, long, any more, 
but we dont know what God will let happen with us ; but we 
have to submit. I dont hope to get killed or die soon ; but 



34 

sometimes, I feel and think that I would not be in this world long 
any more, Lewis, if God calls me home, or away from you and 
Mother, you must do the best you can, first of all, be kind to 
mother, whatever you do, and see that she is well cared for. 
Lewis, I have more Debts than you know, or that you think ; but 
I cant help it ; you know that I always tried to do the best I 
could, but oftentimes, where I thought I could make something, 
I lost. I often thought I would tell you more about my circum- 
stances, than I did, but when I meant to tell you, I could not do it, 
and if I would, it would not made it any better, if I could turn 
things into money, what I would like to sell, I could shift it 
round ; but there is no sale for nothing at present. Lewis, I 
have my life insured for Sixty-five Thousand Dollars, altogether, 
for 20 Thousand in the Penn Mutual Life insurance Company of 
Philadelphia, and for 30 Thousand Dollars in the Mutual life 
insurance Company of New York ; and for 10 Thousand Dollars 
T have an accidental Policy in the Hartford Company of Connec- 
itcut ; and 5 Thousand in the Mutual Protection life insurance 
Company of Philadelphia; which is for the benefit of mother. 
5 Thousand in the Penn Mutual is for mother; and 10 Thou- 
sand in the Mutual Life of New York is for mother. All my 
other insurance is for your benefit, if anything should happen 
with me, Lewis, get the money out of the insurance Companys, 
for they have to pay it. the Agents of the Companys I insured 
in, will assist you, and pay all my debts, for I borrowed some 
money to pay the premiums on the insurance, so that my Credit- 
ors could perhaps get a hold of insurance, and if they could not, 
pay all my debts, and be a man, so that nobody can say, that 
they lost money on your Father. You can pay all my debts, 
and hold all the property, if you get the money out of the insur- 
ance Companys, and have money left. I insured to much ; it 
costs to much money to keep it up, or to pay the premiums ; 
but, I am in now, I will keep it up, if I can. Lewis keep out of 
these Companys, for it is worth nothing to be in these large 
Companys and be very careful that you dont get Cheated so 
so much, and dont let people talk you into all these things or 
into anything. Lewis, dont show this paper to any body what- 



35 

ever you do, dont let any person see it ; Keep it entirely a secret, 
if anything should happen with me, sell my interest in all these 
Iron mine or ore Leases, it is to expensive and very risky Busi- 
ness, and dont listen to what other people tell you, and tend well 
to your store. The insurance Company's must pay the insurance, 
what I am insured, they can't get out of it, if, I am gone once, 
dont let people know for how much I am insured, or how much I 
am in debt. Keep it as much secret as you can, for not every- 
body need to know, for it want make it any better, but when 
you get the money out of the insurance Companys, if it ever 
should happen so, dont think you would keep the money and not 
pay the Debts for that purpose I insured so much that all my 
debts can be paid if anything should happen, you can pay the 
Debts, and have some money left, and keep all the property 
what we have, if you manage it right, the Agents of the Com- 
panys will assist you in taking the affidavits for Proof of Death, 
and so on. Lewis, you will find my last will and Testament, in the 
safe in a sealed envelope, Lewis, dont do as I have done, dont let 
people talk you into anything, to go security, or endorse notes to 
the Banks and all sorts of such things ; be very careful about 
such things, and dont do as I have done. I done a great deal 
to much of such things. Lewis, keep that safe, and the gold 
and silver money what is in the safe, keep that without fail, and 
keep all the property for the present time, if I should be called 
off ; for in course of time the property here will bring a good 
price. I made you my executor in my will, if anything hapens 
with me you must take my will to Easton to the Registers office, 
inside of Thirty days of my death, and take out your papers as 
executor of my estate ; the man that signed the will, as witnesses, 
you must take to Easton to testify to the will ; you dont need to 
give security as Executor, you can take an inventory, or an ap- 
praisement of my things and before you have to keep a sale, you 
can see wether you get the money of the Insurance Companys or 

not. 

(Signed) MONROE SNYDER. 

Lewis, I dont hope or expect to die soon, or get killed ; but 
god only knows ; we cant tell, life is uncertain, but Death is cer- 



36 

tain. About keeping Llewellyms insurrance Policy up, if he 
lives longer than I, you can do as you please, or as you think 
best, try and keep everything as it is, and as quiet as possible ; 
it is of no use to let every body know how things are; I know if 
something should happen with me, mother would trouble herself 
a great deal about it ; if it should be the case take good care of 
her whatever you do. 

Lewis I think I told you, that the Penn Mutual life insurance 
Company holds a Mortgage of five Thousand Dollars on our 
house, for which they hold one of my insurance policys of five 
Thousand Dollars, as colateral security, I have a paper in the 
safe that shows it, and the receipts that I paid the premiums on 
it. they also hold a fire insurance Policy, as colateral security, 
which is transferee! to them, you mtfst see that it comes all 
right. Jonas Snyder holds the fire insurance Policy on the Drug 
Store Building as colateral security for Mr. Taylors mortgage, 
that Policy is not transferred. I have a receipt in the Safe from 
Jonas Snyder. Lawyer Stout, at Easton, is the agent for the fire 
insurance Company ; where the Drug Store property is insured in. 

Mrs. Reeder at Easton, holds the insurance Policy on your 
stock, as Colateral security, for the Thousand Dollars, what 
Shoemaker had loaned of her, Lawyer Reeder attends to her bus- 
iness, so that you can find everything, and try and straighten it 
up, for Gods sake 

(Signed) MONROE SNYDER. 

Lewis, I think it would be best, if something should happen 
with me, if you would get every thing appraised and sell it. 
Mother can take, at the appraisement, what she wants ; and any- 
thing of the personally property you want, you can buy ; but the 
houses or Real estate, you cant buy, because you are my Execu- 
tor ; you cant give a Deed to yourself, but Mother can buy the 
Real estate, or get a good friend to buy it for her, and she can 
take the deed-!, and afterwards give you another Deed. I think 
that would be the best way, and about Grand Mother Beils 
Estate, see that it comes all right, so that Daniel and Reigel, who 
are my security, need not to pay anything for me. the best way 



37 

I think is to sell every thing after I am gone, as soon as you get 
the money out of the Insurance Companys for that matter about 
the St Nicholas Slate Company and others might make you 
trouble, where I am security, if the property is not sold, if you 
sell the property for cash it wont come so high and if you have 
the money of the Insurance Companys for my insurance that 
would be the best way. anything of the personal property you 
can take, by the appraisement, or buy it ; you and Mother can 
keep all the personal property ; keep by the appraisement or buy 
it ; dont let that Safe go to Strangers ; keep that, and keep the 
silver and gold money, what is in it ; if you dont keep the other 
money, if there is any, the silver and gold, dont say anything 
to nobody; that is some of Grandpaps yet, and William and 
Amanda had some when they died ; that is in the safe yet, and 
yours to, what you have for a good many years. Keep all that, 
and dont let Mother give all her money, if I am gone, so that 
she has somthing to live, if the insurance is all paid, you can 
get along right well, and I cant see no reason Avhy they want be 
paid ; for the premium is all paid ; on the Policys, and the Com- 
panys are all good Companys. Do the best you can, but never 
go security for nobody, nor never endorse a note, for no man, no 
matter who he is, if you manage right, you can get along, with- 
out asking any body to go security for you, or to endorse for 
you, dont give up Shoemakers Slate Stock Certificates, what I 
hold, as Collateral Security, until he has settled all his notes, 
what I have endorsed for him. This Guardian thing you also 
must settle. Charles things are all settled, but Owen Beils child, 
I am Guardian for, and for Lewis Berkenstocks two little girls, 
if I am not here any more they will get other Guardians, but 
dont go Guardian for nobody ; it only makes trouble, but see 
that these things all come right, the books and papers about this 
Guardian business are all in the safe ; they show everything how 
it is. Lewis you know how it is with the wagens; that one of them 
belongs to you, which one you want, and the Sleigh, wolf Robe, 
and Blanket, and Bells are also yours, it was bought for you, 
and you must keep it. if Henry Beil ever asks you to take that 
Slate Stock back, what he got of me dont you do it, or pay him 



38 

any money ; dont give him a cent, for he cant make you do it ; 
perhaps lie will never ask you ; I dont know as he will ; he never 
asked me to take it back ; if he would or ever will, I want do it ; 
only see, that Grandmother Beils estate is settled up right, so 
that they cant say that they did not get their money, and if the 
securitys had to pay anything, I think Daniel is pretty severe, if 
he gets mad once at anybody, mother's money you must take 
care what she gets out of the insurance Companys for she cant, 
you must see to, that you will also find, a receipt for your Stock 
in the Drug Store, so that you can hold that ; perhaps my cred- 
itors might try to get a hold of it, but I dont see how they can, 
if you have this receipt; that shows that you paid me 
for it ; if anything happens with me, settle everything up, all 
right, and as soon as you can ; and as quiet as you can ; the 
sooner, the better ; if you sell the houses, let mother buy them, 
or get a good friend to buy them for, and she can take the deed, 
and give you a deed, again ; I think Henry Beil would be a good 
man to buy the houses for mother ; you cant trust anybody, par- 
ticular no stranger ; perhaps, if you would get Hess to buy it, 
he would not let you have the half, any ; if you sell the houses, 
for cash, or a short credit, they want come so high, and you can 
do that, because, you get the money out of the insurance Com- 
panys. if Mother ever gets money of the insurance Companys, 
if she live longer than I do, you must take care of it, for she 
cant, and dont let her lend out, unless you see it. if you put it 
in a good national Bank, I think that is the safest or take the 
first mortgage on Real estate. Whatever you do, dont let people 
be lei you, or lei you in things as they did me ; and stay out of 
these Companys ; never go in a Company of no kind, for it is 
worth nothing to be in these Companys. but you are old enough 
to look a little ahed, and dont spend much money on them Iren 
ore leases ; if you can get a little somthing for them, sell and if 
no let them run out, and dont spend much money on them ; for 
it is very risky Business ; lottery Business, as Mr. Jacob Hiestand 
said. Lewis, I settled up everything with Lyn ; he is to pay 
everything we owe, over in Jersey.* .'...-•■ 

* He here expresses an opinion of Certain men, which has no connection 
with the question at issue. 



39 

So now Lewis, keep out of these things as I told you often, be- 
cause it is worth nothing ; this mining is very Risky Business ; 
dont spend any money on them Leases what I hold, if you can 
get anything for them sell them ; if not let them run out ;* 

if anything should happen with me, 
which I hope it want, but we dont know, for life is uncertain, 
but death is certain, Lynn must pay everything what owe in 
Jersey, for Lumber and work and for hauling the ore, and Klines 
Royalty and Klines Timber, and everything, before he can get 
them notes, what he left me as colateral security ; I also gave 
him that Lease there at Klines, what I had on Henry R. Keuntz 
land otherwise I could not settle with him. 

(Signed) MONROE SNYDER. 

I think you will agree with me that this letter is not 
the product of an insane man. Its orthography and 
grammar may be defective, but eveiy line of it proves that 
the writer 1 s head was level. 

He has now obtained the $65,000 insurance ; has bor- 
rowed some of the money to pay the first premium. This 
money, if realized, will lift his debts and provide for Ms 
wife and son. Unless it can be realized before the next 
premium matures, all is lost. The last act must, 
therefore, be performed. The plan in this case also was 
to have a murder perpetrated, but as in the Colvocoresses 
case, the bungling manner of the attempt made the theory 
of murder ridiculous. I will not inflict upon you the de- 
tails of the efforts of Snyder at self-destruction, but a 
plainer case of deliberate, intelligent, determined suicide 
was never presented to a court or jury, and yet it was 
found impossible to overcome the settled conviction that 
there could be no suicide without insanity, and conse- 
quently the fruit of this barefaced swindle has been 
gathered. I think it must be evident to every intelli 
gent thinking man that there is something radically 



40 

wrong in a system of jurisprudence which permits or 
tolerates such grave abuses, and that it is important to 
the welfare of society, and that justice demands we 
should have more intelligence in the jury-box, and more 
Urmness on the bench to insure protection. 

The importance of the question is becoming more 
and more manifest. The suicidal mania is spreading 
beyond all precedent, and it becomes the duty of the 
moralist, the philanthropist, and the statesman to study 
the subject. The barriers to self-destruction seem to be 
giving way. The great protection in a society like ours, 
with its high elevations and deep depressions, has been 
in the profound religious conviction of our people that 
suicide is a pronounced sin, abhorrent to Christianity and 
severely denounced in the Word of God. In this age of 
free thinking scientific investigation and universal criti- 
cism, one by one the great truths contained in the 
Bible, the corner-stone of our 'religious system, are as- 
sailed or doubted, and the faith which has been handed 
down from generation to generation questioned. The 
consequences are inevitable. Destroy the faith of men 
in the Bible and the great truths it teaches, remove the 
restraints of religion and teach annihilation, and you 
will reap without the aid of insanity a harvest of suicides 
that will astonish the wor]d. 



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